Abstract
Over the next quarter century it is likely that Southeast Asian countries will experience high levels of growth in the number of disabled people. It is therefore significant that, over the past decade, the region’s governments have at last ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). At this critical juncture, and in the face of ongoing human rights issues in several territories, this study presents comparative analysis of state and civil society organisations’ (CSOs’) discourse on CRPD implementation. The findings show that while governments have espoused a participatory approach to fulfilling their CRPD obligations, contemporary practice falls short. Disabled people currently experience barriers to shaping policy and accessing social welfare. There is a “disconnect” between state and civil spheres that hampers effective implementation based on partnership working and knowledge exchange. In turn, this raises issues of legitimation, performativity and the endurance of the Medical Model of Disability across the region.
Highlights
This paper presents a comparative analysis of state and civil society organisations’ (CSOs’) discourse on human rights implementation for disabled people in ten Southeast Asian (SEA) countries (Timor Leste, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos)
A “disconnect” between the state and civil society discourse is clearly evident in the Indonesian data
Aside from rights (47 per cent of quasi-sentences, principally ratification of the CRPD), the lead frames in the government discourse were “protection” and “access/ overcoming barriers” (17.4 and 9.4 per cent, respectively)
Summary
This paper presents a comparative analysis of state and civil society organisations’ (CSOs’) discourse on human rights implementation for disabled people in ten Southeast Asian (SEA) countries (Timor Leste, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos). This matters, because according to official estimates, there are 17,150,000 disabled people living in the region (UNESCAP, 2015). As the United Nations notes, many are currently denied their human rights (HR): “common concerns include impunity for serious rights violations [...and] the ill treatment and poor legal protection of ... There are concerns about the impact on
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